Bayer Event – 10 juni 2025 – Koninklijk Belgisch instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen, Brussel
In a nutshell
Bayer organized a two day conference in Brussels titled Back to Growth. They managed to gather a good variety of experts at the Institute of Natural Sciences, which is a wonderful venue almost in the backyard of the European Parliament.
My key take aways of the event:
- The call for urgency is most clearly pronounced by our farmers, all across Europe
- Europe controls and reflects.. while the rest of the world grows at amazing speed
- Technology and innovation are ready, but they are too often stuck on shelfs, among others because of regulation and bureaucracy and many farmers lacking the finances, expertise and know-how needed for its application
- We insufficiently think about WHAT we should produce, and keep staring at the HOW and WHERE we produce our food
- The gap between the ambition of policy makers and reality seems bigger than ever before
That’s what it looks like in a nutshell, yet there is much more that I take home from this conference
Global picture – Jonathan Holslag
Bayer invited Jonathan Holslag, professor and mayor of Tienen, as a keynote speaker on geopolitics. It is good at events like this to reflect on the global approach and look overseas and oceans. The other political powers won’t wait for Europe to invest in a performant food system. Sure, Europe should guarantee food safety and food quality, yet let’s not be naïve neither hypocrite. Europe needs global trade to feed its food system. Remarkable was the call for education at the end of Holslag’s talk. ‘All starts with good education to our youngest in society’. I couldn’t agree more.
Farmers’ voices
Then the floor was open for farmers: Petra Bohnsack (Germany), Daniele Dalle Palle (Italy), George Mailat (Romania), and Willem Derynck (Belgium). These farmers were very diverse, each having their own personal story and a unique business. All four of them left their farm for this event because they clearly are convinced their voice should be raised. As Willem told me during the break:
I first hesitated, but I do this for my mates, young farmers like me. Their voice should be heard
These farmers have ambition and passion to provide us with high quality food, but they suffer from Europe’s inaction and lack of coherence in policy.
Out on the field
From the farmers to the field. So for the break we could learn more at outside boots on Bayer’s ongoing research. It gave the opportunity for interaction and networking. Nice to see – and taste – that also the tomato research unit from The Netherlands was present. Investing in new tomato and cucumber varieties is part of the business. Taste, color, shelf life.. For us, consumers, it all seems obvious that tomatoes look good, taste delicious and that we can keep them for a while before consumption. We seldom realize how much work is done behind the scenes.
Power of innovatie
It is hard to catch the attention after a sunny coffee break in the garden of the museum. Simon Maechling, innovation manager at Bayer Crop Science succeeded. Starting the presentation from his personal life and a disease he ‘inherited’ from his grandmother, he built up an inspiring talk. Science and innovation has brought us a lot of good things in life, from health care to food production, yet we most often get to hear the negative side of the story. Without science, we would not be able to feed 8 billion people, not even half of today’s population. Moreover, we will need science to solve our problems and make earth a better place to live.
Europe’s voice
The last session of the day was set up as a panel discussion, opened by a speech from Kerstin Rosenow, Head of Unit, DG AGRI – European Commission. Kerstin focused on the vision on agriculture of the Commission, and hence sustainability, competitiveness and food autonomy were key items in her speech. ‘We will give funding to those who need it most’. It may all sound logic, for the people out in the streets of Brussels. Yet if you face the facts, it feels like Europe is slowly moving forward with a powerful compass that just needs calibration.
Paneldebat – there is no silver bullet
In the panel, I was surrounded by Achim Irimescu (Minister Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representation of Romania to the EU), Constance Tuffet (Bayer), Paul Temple (Global Farmer Network), Richard Zaltzman (EIT Food). Each of us look from a different perspective to the challenges that Europe faces and hence many topics were brought to the table: concerns on CAP budget, public-private partnerships, changing the mindset of farmers, need for research and innovation, health, education, communication. Maybe it was a good way to emphasis how complex the food system is, and that not one silver bullet will solve the problem.
Final remarks
Matthias Berninger closed the conference and opened the walking dinner. Outside in the sun, a lovely setting looking out over the buildings where our voices are represented by Members of the European Parliament. I hope the sense of urgency reaches these offices and leads to political courage.
Axel Voss is one of our EU representatives. I think he very well formulated some key points, going way beyond being proud of achievements but looking ahead and recognizing vulnerability and incoherences in policy.
It was CEO Bill Anderson who had the final words before the sunset. A talk during a reception is not a gift. Yet you could feel the silence. ‘Health for All, Hunger for None’. I looked around, seeing experts from various organizations, with different business models, disciplines and background. Yet, I dare to belief that exchanges like this help us all to contribute to action.
Because inaction is no option and fear for change won’t bring us anywhere. Europe has a powerful compass, let’s calibrate it.
Growth?
Finally, when I wrote the title of the conference, I had to think about the book of Hannah Ritchie ‘Not the end of world’, which I just read. In the first chapter, she writes on growth and degrowth. Economic growht is not contradictory with lowering our environmental impact. She clearly motivates this statement. A book I can recommend to all.
